EAD: An Introduction and Primer

1. EAD: An Introduction and Primer Christopher J. Prom, Ph.D. Assistant University Archivist University of Illinois Archives July 7, 2003

2. Structure of this talk • http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/prom/www/talk.xml

3. Structure of this talk <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?> <talk> <ArchivalDescription/> <eadStructure> <General/> <HighLevelElements/> <DescriptionOfSubordinateComponts/> </eaeStructure> <authoringEAD/> <displayingEAD> <staticHTMLDisplay/> <dynamicSearchableDisplayOptions/> </displayingEAD> <eadIssues/> </talk>

4. Archival Description and EAD • Markup for archival description (finding aids), not for texts themselves • Archival description—ISAD(G) (http://www.ica.org/biblio/cds/isad_g_2e.pdf) • Provides description of materials in the collection • Also provides evidence of actions by individual or organization which created or gathered the collection (provenance) • Arrangement is based on original order and use • Proceeds from general (collection level) to specific (series, folder, item level) • Multilevel in nature, information inherited from one level to next • Many possible relationships, structures • Can describe one document or millions • These factors make it well suited for sgml/xml • Ideally used as a complement to MARC record describing collection

6. EAD Structure—General • SGML and xml versions of DTD (v. 2002) • XSD schema current under development • General points about structure: • many elements optional • most repeatable at any level, nesting can vary • Normalization not common for most finding aids • Is it data or document centric???? • Many “artifacts” of document-centric markup, can complicate display, especially in federated systems • EAD is a data structure standard, NOT a content standard • RLG guidelines (http://www.rlg.org/rlgead/eadguides.html)

7. <eadheader> (information about EAD File) <eadid> unique id <filedesc> <titlestmt> <publicationstmt> <notestmt> <profiledesc> <creation> <langusage> <revisiondesc> <frontmatter> (deprecated element, repeats info for display) <archdesc> (information about materials being described) level attribute required (typically set to collection) High Level Elements

8. Common Top-Level <archdesc> Elements <did> (descriptive id) <origination> <unitititle> <unitdate> <physdesc> <abstract> <repository> <unitid> <bioghist> <scopecontent> <arrangement> <controlaccess> <accessrestrict> Other elements include <accruals>, <acqinfo>, <altformatavail>, <appraisal>, <custodhist>, <prefercite>, <processinfo>, <userestrict>, <relatedencoding>, <separatedmaterial>, <otherfindaid>, <bibliography>, <odd> Linking elements: based on XLink spec, suite of linking elements includes <archref> ,<extref>, <daogrp> All of above elements are repeatable for components of the collection, at any level in the <dsc> (description of subordinate components)

9. <dsc> (description of subordinate components) • Series of nested components (i.e. <c> [unnumbered] <c01>, <c02>, etc. [numbered]) represent intellectual structure of materials being described • <container> elements (within each level) represent physical arrangement • Maximum depth of 12 levels • All elements available in archdesc top level also available in any component (typically not used) • Use of @level highly recommended. • Linking to digital surrogates via <dao>, <daogrp> • Sample finding aid • xml: http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/xml/2620016.xml • html: http://web.library.uiuc.edu/ahx/ead/ua/2620016/2620016f.html

10. Authoring EAD • Current options • Text editors (cheap, no built in validation, transformation or unicode support) • Notetab • WordProcessors • XML editors (graphical view, built in validation, transformation, unicode support, FOP; tend to be buggy) • XML Spy • oXygen • XMetal (not recommended) • EAD Cookbook highly recommended, templates for Notetab, oXygen • Future? • Archivist’s Toolkit (UCSD, NYU project)

11. How UI Archives uses EAD • For selected collections only • Text input in WordPerfect • Markup in Notetab Pro with scripts • EAD files harvested by RLG • OAI provider site on top of collection database • In future, will create <eadheader> and top of <archdesc> out of database, then do <dsc> directly in xml editor

12. NoteTab Clips (Macros)

13. Clip Language: Easy to program (really!) CLIP language Clip Language

14. Entering a Link

15. Displaying EAD • Most common to transform to HTML • Static via xsl stylesheet on command line, upload files to server • Client-side via link to css or xsl, example: • <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="simple.xsl"?> • Server side transform engine (saxon, msxml, xalan, etc) via servlets • Dynamic (searchable) • dlxs findaid class

16. Samples • Static: http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/e/edwards.htm • Client side: http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/e/edwards.xml • PDF: http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/e/edwards.pdf • DLXS implementations: • http://www.umich.edu/~bhl/EAD/index.html • http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ • Other implementations • Cheshire: http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/

17. EAD Issues • Workflow • Different ways that options are is applied can cause interoperability problems • Display issues • Not searchable at most institutions • Need for a schema to more closely integrate with other applications (METS, OAI)

18. EAD Resources • http://www.loc.gov/ead/ • http://www.iath.virginia.edu/ead/ • Daniel Pitti, Wendy Duff, eds. Encoded Archival Description on the Internet